There are stranger things (than time travel)
by dragonheartt
Summary: Connor David "Hatter" Temple had always been talented at adapting to whatever circumstances he found himself in. He takes everything in stride, though some things are more difficult to deal with than others. And at the end of the day, he's happy just being Connor with Abby. And avoiding that garden with the angel statue. technically crossover, but more an AU connor background.


AN: One-shot fic. Note: It's actually a crossover, of a sort, though at the heart it is Primeval and conby. So... consider it almost an AU background for our dear Connor Temple...

Crossover of: syfy's Alice, Doctor who (faint mention, and I admit I only have faint understnading of the weeping angels, fyi), Primeval, and brief mentions of ALP's character/plot from that episode of Rose and Maloney (though again, not entirely sure of the exact plot of that) Honestly, it'd be best ot consider it Primewholice. Yeah. o.o Anyways, hope you enjoy it! :D

NOTE: JUST UPDATED, some changes/extensions!

* * *

Connor David "Hatter" Temple was born in Wonderland, and was sent to the world parallel his own- our world -at 13 to protect him from something or other. He didn't know at the time, because nobody would tell him. He didn't stop to say goodbye to his father, the original Mad Hatter.

There was one thing all people from Wonderland agreed on: Time runs differently in Wonderland than it does in our world. 100 years could pass on that side whilst Connor was growing up at a normal pace on our side of the looking glass. The boy had always been good at adapting, extremely bright for his age and rather charming when he wants to be. He'd been told he could not return until someone he trusted came to fetch him. Connor promised he wouldn't forget his home world.

Location: England; specifically, London. Date: 1984. He narrowly avoided getting hit by a car, and then followed his father's instructions from then on out. He was set up in an orphanage, in a line of foster homes one after the other, and somehow his father had managed to get proper forge documents for him, so at least the 13 year old hadn't had to do all of it on his own.

* * *

After having been wrongly accused for a crime he didn't commit, an 18 year old Connor had taken a walk to blow off some steam. He needed to think. He passed by a little enclosed public garden, and entered. Not much to look at; he turned to go.

Suddenly, Connor saw something out of the corner of his eye, and froze, staring at it.

There'd not been a sculpture of an angel there before, had there? Before he could even fathom what was going on, he'd blinked, and things seemed to blur around him. For a moment, he couldn't breathe, as if he'd stepped through the looking glass, or something. But that made no sense! And then all of a sudden he could breath again, and the young man stumbled out of the garden, head spinning a little. He was confused.

And even more so when Connor, making his fumbling, disoriented way out of that garden and away form the angel that was still inexplicably _there_, took in his surroundings.

His immediate thought was that he was somewhere completely different, now. Or perhaps, and more correctly,_ somewhen_. He made his way to a store, schooling his expression and trying ot look casual as he approached the newspapers, fingers shaking slightly as he picked one up and unfolded it.

He eyes flicked across the bold headings, ignoring the drivel and trying ot find the date. There, at the very top, where it was meant to be. June 10th, 1997. His eyes widened, and then he forced his expression calm again. He needed to fit in, blend into the crowd so he didn't stand out. It had been 1989 when he'd walked into that garden. But he was still bewildered, unsure how he'd just travelled nearly 10 years in time.

He'd time traveled.

He grinned a little. But then, there were stranger things than time travel, and he should know. He wasn't even from this place anyway. On the upshot, at least here, no-one knew about the whole getting-arrested bit, though he still wondered who did it and why he was framed. He couldn't dwell on the questions like that.

* * *

A year later, and he's managed to get himself into CMU, which took a bit of hacking computer systems and charming people. It's not his first choice in university, but it will do.

He'd had to do the hacking and the charming of young office assistants, because he technically didn't exist in this time. His disappearance in 1989 meant that most people probably thought he was dead. It was odd, definitely. And if hed been anyone other than who he was, Connor would've wanted to curl up in a corner and let someone else decide what he would do. But he could be self-sufficient, was used to being alone, and was way too clever to let a little snag like not tecnically existing stop him. It wasn't like he could get back

Connor carefully cleared away his tracks, pulled the 'ghost' flash drive out of the computer, and scurried out of the computer lab that he'd charmed his way into. Eyes narrowed, Connor watched two guys his own age walking by. They seemed to be having fun, shoving each other jokingly and talking animatedly about something. He didn't know how long he would be here, but... Someone from home would have to realize he'd switched times, and would come get him sooner than later. Right? He wasn't so sure, and he was lonelier than he'd let himself believe. Sucking up his courage, Connor walked over to the two boys, and introduced himself.

They'd quickly become best friends of a sort that Connor had never had, had never thought about, even. He was relieved to find that these two were just as socially inept as he was, in a way. He wasn't alone.

His new friends are two geeks like himself, named Tom and Duncan.

He couldn't have asked for better friends, though as far as roommates went, even the eternally messy Connor had to mother-hen at them sometimes. Connor was amazing with tech, but he'd always loved dinosaurs, and it was more of a challenge than tech-stuff.

Of course, just when Connor was beginning to settle in and become comfortable with the way his life in this time, with these new friends, was going to be, life pulled the rug out from under his feet to impassively to watch him fall down. A man about four or five years older than Connor appeared in the doorway to his dorm room, and immediately he paused with shifting boxes to meet the man's eyes, and grinned at the man with dark blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Connor would recognize the his old friend March anywhere, and he knew what this meant. It was time to go home. As he packed up a small amount of his things, Liam tried to force the image of his friends' faces when they realized he was gone out of his mind. This wasn't his home, Wonderland was.

* * *

He spent several years in Wonderland, though time passes in a strange way there. He hardly aged at all, to all appearances, and he grew accustomed ot wonderland again very quickly. Wonderland needed him, needed a hatter. He understands that that means his father is dead, but he'd given up on ever talking to his father again, anyway, because of the way Time ran here. At least he was living in wonderland again. Except it's not the wonderland he remembered at all.. He'd thought March was still on his side, and then his old best friend had tried to take him to see the new Queen of Hearts, and Connor had heard enough at that point to know that she was BAD NEWS. He'd had to fight dirty, but he'd gotten away. The Resistance had found him, and had taken him in. "Hatter" had to force himself to play both sides of the court, to stay alive so he can continue to help the resistance. Then Alice showed up and it all snowballed out.

A year after he went back to Alice's world with her, dodo and renegade suits he'd aquired attack them, and alice is killed. Hatter barely escapes with his life, and definately not unscathed.

He retreats, and somehow ends up in that same garden again. He doesn't know how he found it again.

The angel is there. He blinked on purpose, wanted to go anywhere in time except the here and now.

The weeping angel sent him a single month forwards - and he appears in the middle of his dorm room back in England, much to his surprise. When Tom and Duncan came back from class, they were so overjoyed to have Connor back that they didn't even ask about the whole thing for qutie some time.

He was thankful for that. He was still mourning Alice, the only girl he'd ever fallen in love with, ever. But Connor is always one to adapt, and change when necessary. The "hatterish" side of him, he hid away once more, letting the more dorky, geeky - and still just as much him as the other part- side out. To fit in and to try and forget.

He read the article in the news about the creature attack, and leapt on the chance, because he'd travelled in time and space, and so why can't aliens and monsters be real, too? Not that he can ever tell anyone that.

Cutter's at first dismissive, but things go from there.

And now he's happily married to one Abby Sarah Maitland-Temple, with a little girl on the way that they've decided to name Alice. He finaly feels he can tell someone, because Abby will always accept him for himself, no matter what. And she does, and it feels like a weight has lifted off of his chest.

He never sees the weeping angel statue again, but that's fine by him! Just like he's glad he's not seen the lookign glass. Anomalies are his realm of interest and expertise and he's got a happy life. Him, Abby, and their kids. He hopes the next one is a boy, 'cause he wants to name a son Nick, after his father-figure. Not that he's admitted to his heavily pregnant wife that he's already thinking about a second child! He thinks she'd be okay with it though, just not right away. Danny's back, Lester's the same as always, Rex has a girlfriend, a Dracovolans they adopted recently - and it's funny, how things can be so different but alike at the same time? His life has been anything but ordinary, but Connor David "Hatter" Temple would not have it any other way.

**_FIN_**


End file.
